Embodiments relate generally to computer security.
Computer exploits are techniques which may be used to compromise the security of a computer system or data. Such exploits may take advantage of a vulnerability of a computer system in order to cause unintended or unanticipated behavior to occur on the computer system. For example, Return Oriented Programming (ROP) exploits may involve identifying a series of snippets of code that are already available in executable memory (e.g., portions of existing library code), and which are followed by a return instruction (e.g., a RET instruction). Such snippets may be chained together into a desired execution sequence by pushing a series of pointer values onto the call stack and then tricking the code into execution the first pointer value. This chained execution sequence does not follow the intended program execution order that the original program author intended, but may instead follow an alternative execution sequence. In this manner, an attacker may create a virtual program sequence without requiring injection of external code.